Having To Lie Here

Having to wait for the future

It is the pill to swallow unsure

The illness to be deadly

Musical or heavenly

Or an opening for the days

I’ll be free―not frail

Not brainwashed by the media.

Having to lie here in the shade

I see most, if not all,

The slow passing of time

Hear songs from my agonized soul

When the night is deeper

To test the depth with all three legs

Drowning Journal

You're writing a stanza
in a sigh
you're driving a fool out of walk
I'm a beast in a heart
an artist maybe
I suffocate angeled devil
in a world I'm a word
embodied in metaphoric silence
write me down on the inner flesh of your chest
or sing me with your lips
once I ventured west before sunset
stayed for an age night
pondered you bosom-ward
and so missed you tender
baby pile of beauty
you smile with rising sun
and sob with crying heaven
I know how far I have gone
I would have died
if it weren't your stirring letter
there's God's voice in drifting leaves
and your face in the nightfall constellations
and my name in your drowning journal

A Little Drive

Artwork by Erraenah Bara

Turn down the light

A little too loud

I need not the fright

Nor the agonizing anticipation

To possess my head

That a constant palpitation

Whenever I’m by you

Nearly gets my nerve

I am a free soul too

Let’s drive on to the floor

Hand in hand, in every curve

There are songs to flow

I went far through the walls

My pen swinging on my belt

Shuttered the world into my notes

Filled my lungs with dusts and music

To breathe your flame, to break your faults

Till perplexion fitted my moving

My muse, my haven

The nights have gotten out of my reach

Without a word

My soul stretches just an inch

After every dream

I have of you.

No, Man Never Cries

Artwork by George Hodan

No, man never cries
be a poet or counterfeit
unless when his throat dries

Inside, channeled path
only wet like riverbed
his soul and angst bath

Rarely men did really cry
them in times of Shakespeare
when lousy love was worth a try

By moonset, right after death
his other version disappear
scars stay on canvas of painter of life

I dare

Artwork by Kai Stachowiak

Dingy tunnel of silence

compress me tight

suffocated, I ride

unlighted, by love

I read her eyes

so blue

so bright

I spontaneously expire

so passionate

so zealous

dying a bit

living I quit

at the far mouth

I touch by sight

fragrance enchant

world resists

words I emit

attain few feet

I shout

I count days like stairs

upside down

I descend in despair

expecting her breath to be there

underground

I understand

dwell devil

en route, I dare

ravenous of her evil

Back to my World

Image by Linnaea Mallette

Journey started inside
when I hadn't nothing to hide
not my price, nor my pride
I strayed, allowing time to ride
to ride me
back to my world
I missed not in words
my left was quiet
right playing loud
two world apart
bonded together by heart
innocent heart
pure and sure
about what it felt
I let out a sigh
glanced back and front
no soul could be found
in distant, lone sight
I fantasized her beside
the gust of her presence harsh
down on my thoughts
I sat
tried hard to write
but out came gush of feelings
and dreamings
and everything
I couldn't control

The Last Song of the Anonymous Poet

Image by George Hodan

Words are not mine
Hear’em with closed ear
They’re just temp friend
To go with hither and thither
And to include lives in frame

Words are not mine
Read’em with blinded eye
Arrows aimed to bosom
Tender bleed to pieces
Dispassionate dither in silence

Tight-stretched heart pierces the easiest
With’em posing lamb
It takes time and persistence
They’re just not mine
Come about’em with scrupulous pacing

I hate shortcuts to the fields I own
Words are not mine, I’m no Shakespeare
Nor Jeremy, nor Elijah either
I’m myself, unknown yet to my pen
The last song of the late anonymous poet

I lost the past, present held in custody
I, the feast in nights of sorrows
The path is blur, still I can smell the destiny
In the world of silence I will reside
Words are not mine, I am the word

Heaven See

Artwork by Dawn Hudson

Not a single thing's in my possession now
Not a sleep
Nor a breath
Eye is the moon overcast
A subjective night visit
They peek at me naked in the rest room
Unable to pick my scattered self up
I'm no way free
I wonder how they hear pierced heart
Moaning
There's not a psyche-pious dot
Or else, I may have wandered off the pattern
Parallel sighs reach the heaven, swiftly
One behind,
Once again
I question the mind
Their deities playing too stupid to notice
Some loyal prejudices
...and disheartening pretexts
Mount steep ladder
Unpluck flowered buds
There's a world going on
Hush and silent to naked ears
I stand for phobic black bricks
I stand with daytime stars
I own distant roads at night
Wildness of mount-peaks
Attempting to see what heaven see
Up there...

Key to Eternity

Artwork by Irina Bara

Don't dare  sleep tonight
There are stars still to count
Shake your head off empty
This misery knows not safety
Life shed in vain
Love shrinks with time
The mighty rust
Athirst for his-self
Always
Preys on his births
And a benign welcome
Is due to new wakes
Like rain in thirsty earth
Every drop is counted
And his quake apprehended
With a grateful mild silence
His spring is but lavish
Be free as watery sky
Give yourself
Time is but shrinking bread
Satisfaction you never will know
Unless you yield
Right after death
silent it will be
Louder it'll scream
Echoes will wake us
We who came before
On the doors of eternity
Your soul will knock
None to open you'll meet
Yourself is the key
Wary you must be
Of the gate you'll open

Thinking

Artwork by Pennie Gibson

Sir, bow I'm writing

at lone island, not thinking

face smiling, heart shrinking

a man thinks, not thinking

God descend, realm is in my closure

thoughts are odorless, and not dreaming

but thoughts are me, mere my pleasure

a man is asleep. but not dreaming

Sound in background plays backward

melody is mute, I'm not hearing

in late memories (taste is awkward)

a man is speaking, I'm not hearing

Say I foretell stories in papers

would you buy me? Just asking

or if I was printed in fat-reddish letters

would you read me? Still asking

Think of a man with not a brain like me

given a pen or a world for living

at least a world, a pen he wouldn't see

if not for signing his name, a word for living

rd for living

Some nights are longer than others. Some dreams are lighter than others. There are mornings I wake up with an urge to forget my name, to forget people and how to step, but still I cannot forget everything.

Some poems are soothing. Some moments are flavorsome and unkind. If only time would halt, I’d go out looking for a song

Left hung on his shoulders,

The mighty

Where I truly belong

Bird of Paradise

Artwork by Irina Bara

I didn’t know you before

Navigating clouds of paradise

My lover’s name

The way I spell it ‘without feet’

It rhymes with soft waft

Underneath my wings

Keep vanity’s hands off,

The Bird of Paradise

Here’s the flame of affections

The chill of lonesome spirit

Humming through the chimney pathways

Illogically pretty (in Ngozi’ echo)

Your soul; old as ‘Thousand Hills’

Yet wise and beauteous, knows my fate

But (n)one of my faces,

And thus my heart, fell for nobody

Apparently nobody

But you, the Bird of my Paradise

In my muse I hearken to your songs

Roaming in the skies of my hut

In between glistening stars

My soul tails after you, gay and athirst

For the handsome wreath of halo behind your smile

Shadows the Goddess of beauty

Eventide, right before graceful slumber

I get caught in downpour of emotions

I but foretell

For the courage to reign shrank with the ages

Untiring ages, soul-prickers

Frap me with your wings, dear Bird of Paradise

My Girl Has Died, My Girl

Artwork by Karen Arnold 

Death is life afterwards

A train that climb down

Backwards

Maneuvering every speed, it held

Dead leaves cover me in every sight

Beg on to cease mourning but

I can’t

Day is night, everyday

Life is death in black and white

Time is mirror, left is

Right

I understand now, my girl has died

Behind the Invisible, very far away

Light and shadow are in constant

Fray

They crave my girl, I worship their grave

Wrong and Opposite, none is fair

Selfishness blind mean of us being

There

I only write, write to release my fever

Love and hate, perfect imperfections

Two egoists with one bread to equal

Portions

They both hurt to heal, heal to kill

Now that I am alone I but recite

Underneath my heart are harsh words of

Dispute

Glory’s to my pen, Reign to my world

Night's Weeping

Artwork by Tamara Ward

Tears shed by pen

Smear heart in notebook

Fear strays from the frame

And appear in a stern look

That strangers cannot notice

Behind blue eyes and the sky

There lay broken promises

Ones with not a wing to fly

Lost in nights’ wiping

Their views out of try

Days spent in drawings

She’d be sent out of the house

With river from weeping

But for what once was

Known as the daydream

Helped to cool down the volt

She won a place in museum

And a heaven of some sort

She’s the goddess of smile;

A battle she never fought

She’s an expensive style

Always precious to look at

With a bunch of guys on file

Before my mountain was flat

And I hadn't meet the change

Yet, or hear myself in the air

Until my soul escaped the cage

Cage of time that didn't play fair

I cursed thoughts I had in range

For her viral atmosphere 

[Untitled #3]

Artwork by X Posid

Lay your head

at the bosom of my head

and let your dreams prevail

as a blossoming gray rose

don't you wander off poesy

it is where life begins

in the wake of my muse

your face I behold

beauteous you are

in a world you're a star

[Untitled #2]

Artwork by Lisa Runnels

We’re two blocks apart

My forlorn pulse yearns

For your remedy; daring

Let me lose now and yet

Don’t let me think of years

For years are mere counting

Kinda love me, life alone is getting stiffer

For every star beheld in the night sky

Embed a million blinding light

In your eyes are stories I decipher

And songs my soul holds on replay

Just love me; my Goddess of delight

Late nights, with thoughts in revolt

Heart and eyes in need of you close

Sleeping dwell on bottom of their will

I cherish your being, loving you I devote

I sing of your beauty in poesy and prose

Wish I just could read for you how I feel

Until You Fall Asleep

Artwork by Celestin Munezero

Once my thoughts took a long wander

At the edge of twilit land

In a world they know no love

She the wailing loner

The Goddess of beauty and the light

Whose mercy dwells on eastern horizon

And the mouth of paradise praises her name

Unceasing and with tendering delight

Now find me here, the desperate lover

Burn my soul with the touch of your eyes

And deny not kissing the core of my heart

I long for you, as deities long for sincere psalms

And search your pulse on the bottom of my thinking

Oh, daring; I beseech your kindling affections

I contemplate on this art on starry nights

Master-given art of yearning for you in time

Crave not to enter the cave of my bosom

The stock to your smiles and your distinct aromas

Stay close by the garden where you’re adorned

Your name of angelic melody is innocent in my ears

There’s no gold mine I wouldn’t give away

To touch your dark skin, beauteous as the sky of heaven

Gentle caress across your whole body until you fall asleep.

[Untitled #1]

Artwork by Celestin Munezero

Plays ceased to arouse

The lively amongst my long-dead pieces

Amidst perpetual contemplation I dwell

Unable to tell clearly life from death and vice-versa

I once thought I’d live for who knows how long

And the god himself was ignorant of my muses

Away at the fortunate land they know no sun and no moon

I the glorious visitor were of merry welcome

But sat cross-minded for I was unaware of their languages

Their daughters and cattle and gardens were of heavenly glare

And though encompassed solitary kept me accompanied

I could read contentment fresh and young in their eyes

Vain

Artwork by Sabine Sauermaul

Vain! You’re a drifting vain

Not in simpletons will you reign

Your reddish wine, I’m afraid

Will be drunk by soils not in need

Foreign to your sail

As heaven is to hell

Now set you’re missed

In worlds you’ve kissed

Please don’t go by yourself,

Send I, your servant

The docile in you cattle

Voiceless in ovule merchants

Your halo is so hot to freeze

And your shrill not in our veins to breeze

1 A.M.

Artwork by Rajesh Misra

It strikes one aft and fore

Crave of the flesh tenses at once

Meekish restraints yield way before

Thence the virile blow is but a waste

It strikes two aft and fore

Cling to the thought presses like twice

Blankish psyche yearn for hardcore

Hence fiber alone pays for the price

Whence did he befallen me?

Him the uglier in all the angels

And of what his purse has to be?

Frightened am I unlading his fambles

Motion waker entice the hand

Below ground is the rover mind

Night In Common

Artwork by Dawn Hudson

Life and death have life in common

     Be it of a human, a borer or a deity

So do I and the moon have night in common

     Be it sunny, hazy or cloudy

Even now, she’s got the brightest of the sides

     Her heavenly smile peek my room’s underdoor

In the sky of the stars, her gaze constantly resides

     And whilst the angelic wings, my flight underdo

Not so long have I altered from being a song

     In the ears of mountains my chants do perish

So wild and woeful as time within a throng

     But still, notwithstanding, still’s the pain to cherish

But what do love and death have in common after all?

     Devotion and retention I presume

Being a neighbor of either side, I clearly recall

     For they embellish souls they consume

Words are mere leaves falling from sole trees

     They bleed not, neither do they really know

Whether autumn is round the corner with heaves

     Nor do they least care how vigorous will the wind blow

But what do life and sin have in common?

     Sin is but a life in sore cloak, I daresay

Cloying to the flesh while decaying cinnamon

     Whence did the gale and the ages sail

Life stood in-between me and my dear death

The very moment I failed to keep hold my clear breath

At the Edge of Horizon

Artwork by George Hodan

     It’s not easy, not really easy

Living at the edge of horizon

     Sun set not, moon rises late

Tidal feelings quake indoor

     Being is all but illusory being

Ethereal muse kindle me out of self

      Whilst amid time I’m tied to heave

Read not anymore my dear eyes

      For in every word is mourns of lonely heart

Sculptured everywhere as stars are to heavens

      Hear no more my kind ears

For in every song are cries of straying soul

     Lost amidst foggy cold nights of December

Oh poor nose of mine, divine you are

      And innocent as wisdom is to the mad Emperor

And hands are, I console myself in thinking so,

      Quaky as thoughts are to the touch of her pure being

Our brokenness is a language we cannot translate

      Nor possibly understand where it springs from

But its banks and beds willingly set in our wildest dreams

      I acquired poetry not for pitching my voice high

But for waking gone-missed mountain lovers

      With the loudest amongst all my silent hearts

Worriers of Time

Artwork by Celestin Munezero

Turned the sight around

To the humble gatherings

Of travelers to the unknown

Land to pretend and defend

Thereof in their righteous mind

Execute blur-sighted prophets

Sons and daughters of the future

Now is the morale they merely read

Sculptured all around parietes

Of their sore hearts

Cries in their pathetic eyes

Are heard alone in their homes

And of them worriers of time

A Chant

Artwork by Sabine Sauermaul

Say it bores me playing a piano

Or it sores me sailing a sea alone

Late at night when you’re asleep

And stars are watching over you my darling

Extend your hand and take me there

To that isle empire of beauty you built

And amid the rhythm of songs we sing

We’re lyrics to the world of magic

Days are steep and tiresome to climb

But together we mount like

A song coming to an end

But seem to be starting instead afresh

Just, Take Me Away

Image/Amateur Pic

Take me away

Far away beyond my reach

Where I won’t breathe

Neither will I think

Take my sinful thoughts to rest

In that cold hell of them perished

When there was still life to lie

Life of despair, life of misery and isolation

Take your child, corrupted with lust

Masks are getting tighter, blemish uglier

My language’s utterable not anymore

Lamentations are but mere chants of devilish choir

Cherished in the underground grave of heaven

One or two know, three or so follow

Amidst the frigid mo(u)rnings of January

The lecher Angel takes a good lead

Who knows how many gods in space?

And goddess in pursuit of righteousness out of death

Give me one pill tonight,

My being will soon be forgotten,

My pain and blankish days I borrowed

Grant me one wish, cold sleep would fit perfect

I now plead,

I please my flesh with flesh

Thoughts with thoughts

Take me away now ere I foul my sheep

To the land of quietness

Wind blows not, stars shine late

Oh, how marveled am I

For that venture ride

Smooth and slow it ought to be

And mild and still I ready am to go

Just, take me away

To the island they don’t think

And be with me forever as time is to the gods

In the Eyes of the Skies

Artwork by Celestin Munezero

Haul the clouds

Behind the mounts

Sail dreams

Along the tides

Think of not to write

To write is but to breathe

Muse rather to reads

In the eyes of the skies

Countless are the Words

Foreigners but to the Author

And as night roughly befall

Mourn not my strangest of the souls

Recollected are poetries to recite

Engraved onto the flaming of the time

And onto our blankish memories

Us the flails, us the despairs;

Onto the diaries of the greatest of our coevals,

Onto the hearts of the heartless poetesses

Who’s to redeem the worlds of the rightful?

If not the Sun of the mighty kingdom

Oh! Brethren, hear not my cries

Cheer not to my laughs

For they are mere counterfeits

Just as heavens are to the nightful hearts

Be Solomonic in reading my eyes

Be! As a mirror in the desert reflects sun rays

Birth the right in the wrongest of the moment

Thus the wrong in its righteous orbs

Sons to the sinful mothers

Daughters to the vileful fathers

Heed me not, I’m temporary

Yet permanent as the Change His-self

You’ll notice my gust tailing

Not until I’m done will you be.

New Year's Out

Artwork by Larisa Koshkina

New Year found me out

Staring back at the stars

Them I didn't know before

If only I could understand
How they make you feel